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•" LEOLA LEROY 

JENNIE M. HARRISON | 

61 




LIBRARY OFTQNGRESS. J 






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{'UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. \ 



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LEOLA LEROY, 



Foster Sister of Aclele 



By Jennie M. Harrison, 



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CINCINNATI : 
ROBERT CLARKE & CO., Printers. 

1872. 



TS IS/? 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872 by 

Jennie M. Harrison, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington 



Dedicated, by permission, to my dear friend, 
Miss Sarah Enoch. 



LEOLA LEROT, 



FOSTER SISTER OF ADELE. 



PART I. 

T MPECCABLE genius, implanted in a bold, 

broad brow, 
Inventor of laws in motion that revolve the wheels 

of Art, 
Competitor for the secret power that shall cause 

perpetual motion, 
Prophetic artist that gilded fame for imperious 

council : 
A mother, cased in gain, yet she would more : 
A maiden, who had concupiscence embraced, 
Yet wrapt that guilt in brilliants' glare, 
And paved her pathway with blandest cunning : 



6 LEOLA LEROY. 

Selected bride for cherished mind— - 

A work unread by all y save one, 

That one Leola : (immutable she, 

'Cept the transit from good to higher, were*) 

She analyzed the speech illumed, 

And mildly to Innocence gave the motive found 

"Can believe mine senses/' youth replied, 

" Haughty mother, seek such a bride? 

Thou, my foster cousin, tell me this ! 

Thou penetrator ! art not amiss ? 

So true the soul, my mother said, 

She'd wed no other, if thou wert dead. 

By inspiration she doth know 

We two were born for each below : 

United here for that above — 

Perfect bliss as wrought by love !" 

"Bay, thou'st heard my warning," she said, 
"Perhaps, and 'haps, if thou wert dead." 



LEOLA LEROY. 

She soliloquized, " I did my duty; 

I see he 's again tranquilized. 

To God we leave that trusting light — 

But time may teach that ' right is might.' " 



Arrayed in snowy satin, looped with purest gems, 
Six maidens stood in waiting, wreathed with dia- 
dems, 
Confining costly laces that caught the pollen fair, 
As they swept from the velvet carpet up to the flow- 
ing hair. 
The crowns were orange flowers, with their firm and 

pointed leaves ; 
The maidens, pure as their moral, they were as six 
retrieves. 

A rustle— a recognition — the servants step aside, 

Upon the arm of Genius leans the promised bride ; 

Six lords, in blackest broadcloth, with vests and 
kids of white, 

Pass in and confront the maidens jusft at the treas- 
ure's right. 



8 LEOLA LEROY. 

Out in the silvery moonbeams stand the coaches 
seven ; 
Servants conduct the equipage; "the twain made 

one at eleven." 
"At eleven, in the old cathedral," dates the invita- 
tion note, 
"Twelve and half at Alexandria; take a chartered 

boat; 
Guests attend us to the ocean — bid adieu to home- 
Launch upon the dreamy waters, close the dream 
in Rome." 
Safe in the gray cathedral — priest begins with 
prayer — 
A scream — wild confusion — a mother's wail — de- 
spair — 
White as the marble column that supports his noble 

head, 
Cold as the marble column — rescued — Genius 's 
dead. 

Not their defeated motives in Leola slew like aims, 



LECXLA LEROY. 9 

The freedom of her nature, rebelled at such a view ; 

At an early dawn of reason, it winged its flight aloft, 

Sought, found, and developed in a genial atmos- 
phere, 

'Mid teeming hills, assistant knolls, and cascades' 
myriad tongues ; 

With august mount outstripping all in height, 

(Like her aspiration's altitude, surpassed all com- 
petes' scale) — 

Leaving envied nooks and mossed alcoves 'twixt 
hill-tops and its base. 

And as o'er fertile fields she passed and scanned 
the wilds beyond, 

She, and one companion faithful, drank in this 
wealth of God — 

In language esoteric, mapped more secret haunt of 
gods. 

He, a cotton spaniel, with his auburn curls profuse, 

Robbed scores of stooks of feathered tribes ; 

While rats and mice, pop-eyed, straight-tailed, at 
random raced, 



IO LEOLA LEROY. 

Increased his yelps, and fired his courage up ! 
He a death-nip gave to all vile crawling things, 
Made a craunch of toads, and six bites of a hare ; 
Danced a jig with frogs, and swam " a heat" with 

fish- 
Anon — waddled apace by Guardie's side, 
Or, pranced in front with vortical show, 
Vouching retentive watch with each return — 
Till toiling up a towering woodland hill, 
Ravine hemmed, and dipped in mottled green, 
Was reached their loved Adytum — spring of Pan. 
Relic of a by-gone elemental, cloud-warred and 
lightning rent, 
That in its thundering, deluging fury sent 
A rushing mountain torrent, that stepped its flume 

through yielding slate, 
An instant at this apex pausing to eddy out a basin 

great, 
While sister artists, ere they blended chiseled ar- 
cades for the king, 



LEOLA LEROY. II 

Carved a throne, and laid dark floors of queerest 

patterning, 
Arched below o'er foamy spoutings a single rocky 

beam, 
And as the howling storm abated, slowly changed 

to mellifluent stream — 
While graceful twigs, and foliage's minglings o'er 

this select scene intertwine, 
And nymphs, in enthusiastic admiration, call in 

vain for fair Undine. 

Hence the christening : 

And she prayed Pan's fabled retinue 

Might chant Don Quix a lullaby, 

Might soothe his wagging tail, and still his pendent 

tongue, 
Whilst she in ecstasy sketched his handsome form. 

Here, memory carried her back to "Merrie Eng- 
land," 
To sails across the Dover to sunny France, 



12 LEOLA LEROY. 

To homage pay to the tombs of her father's ances- 
tors ; 
And how that father to her with pride would point : 
" Thy lineage, child? Thou art the eighth descend- 
ant! 
Right royally blends thy French and Saxon blood !" 
And she, with her father's pride instilled, glowed 
On her mother the inward delight 
That felt its existence worshiped. 
And that mother — hectic's victim — saw 
In that lithe form, and wondrous eye, 
Her soul's soul, to struggle with its destiny. 
"Weakling thou! yet thy firmness makes thee 

strong." 
A few short, halcyon days, and all was o'er. 
The mother first, lay wrapped in England's soil, 
And the father, seeking to flee from loneliness, 
Caught up the child and crossed the broad Atlantic, 
Welcomed the foreign shores, and 
Inland traveled to Niagara's far famed fall — 



LEOLA LEROY. 13 

And as if at sight, it did pen his funeral dirge, 
Fell he in Buffalo's city, cholera stricken. 

' 'Thy hours are numbered, and thou must die," 
Physicians murmur, and clear the death knell rang, 
"And then my child — here this envelope sealed — 
Here, within she may read, and not her worth 

forget — 
Here — this purse — 't will place her above the com- 
mon level — 
Look well! attendants, hear! ye wronger not — 
But place her with her wealth in her station ! 
And," — more he would have said, — his speech had 

failed, 
And while yet the breath did come and go, 
They hurried the stranger into the dead-man's cart, 
That at the grave the body might claim itself a 
corpse. 

Leola was alone, — unloved — unknown — 
Frantically she besought them her too to bury ; 



14 LEOLA LEROY. 

Till, attracted by her entreat, two comforters came : 
A gentleman not unlike her father, 
And his wife. " She is as my mamma !" 
The child exclaimed, and straightway nestled 
In that motherly embrace — loving — loved. 
These were transient boarders of the Fant Hotel, 
And would Leola adopt — homeless orphan ! 
She would company be for their loved one, their 
Adele. 

In vain they sought the number of the father's grave : 

Lost — his soul was numbered ; some day Leola 
would understand. 

The morrow they bore her to their southern home, 

And, as their own, left her to her fancy's will. 

Thus early she learned to assuage her grief in soli- 
tary wild, 

And with her favorite mothers (for she felt she was 
alone), 

In their holiest hours, she placed herself in their 
refuge. 



LEOLA LEROY. 15 

Marie Antoinette first did from true pages come 
And hover o'er this innocent ; taught her thus to 

live, 
Not for herself alone, but for others ; 
And with young Louis she the gold-fish fed, 
And laved her tiny foot in the silvery pool. 
Royalty with royalty blended — M. Antoinette loved 

both as one. 
She followed her to the guillotine, and smiled upon 

the blade 
That placed that mother in eternal bliss ; 
Saw the spirit transfigured into beauty like unto that 

of Christ, 
And felt still the gentle nerve that stemmed her tide 

of life, 
" Hovering still to guide my wondering vision." 
Then the " Creole" beauty warmed her heart as 

warm 
As its own volcanic loves that slumbered in its 

bosom. 



l6 LEOLA LEROY. 

Upon that cherished island they roamed 'mid sand 

and shell, 
The eloquence of their young souls feeding but one 

heaven, 
The which they carried with them, bulkier by each 

new phrase — 
A reality beautifully greater grows as each pang 

converted is to joy — 
That joy sadness may be termed — that sadness is 

of God ; 
It feeds the soul 'pon " bread of everlasting life," 
Increases that essence, and its power to suck up the 

sap that must forever live. 
Sadness is such pleasure as angels do feed upon ; 
" God is grief, and grief is God, and love and God 

and grief are one." 
And thus Josephine felt feverish ambition was the 

hand of God ; 
Censured not Napoleon — thus constituted was he, 

and must be gratified. 
" Thus the fault in his Maker was, not the man : 



LEOLA LEROY. 1 7 

If Josephine thus loyal was, 'tis true." 

And with Josephine she the world warred for its 

warrior. 
And would foster mamma, too, vanish as they had 

done? 
"No — hers a routine was that could not increase 

her loveliness ; 
She would have her suffer that which the world 

calls ill, 
Though in truth the very mattock is that digs up the 

coins of Heaven — 
How preferable to die as they had died, than live 

as she did live." 

Here she the souls of poets fathomed : 

With them smiled and wept by turns ; 

Sweet calm, with angels 'muned, 

Or in a frenzied passion raged ; 

Soared with them in highest, purest Heaven, 

Dwelt with them in darkest, deepest hell. 



l8 LEOLA LEROY. 

Read Byron's Harold in his alternate flight from 

vale to cliff; 
Felt whatever he 'd written ; this sublime redeemed 

all other ill. 
Sifted Shakespeare's thousand-pointed darts 
From those that pierced — a single barb — 
And as the curtain rose and fell 'twixt this and that, 
One repulsive worldly scene did blight 
The other full-blown hush of Paradise. 
Recoiled she then, besickened by this thrust ; 
But gently lifts she 'gain the massive inspiration. 
"Roughness and fineness, thou two great combined 

masses, 
Reject thee ? Never ! Even as we do not the 

world reject ! 
As evil existeth not, except for the good, 
So the rougher must needs oft the finer attend ; 
And as 't is the finest throbs that swells the soul's 

pure, 
Rounded into perfect gems, we adapt the rough- 
est for the setting." 



LEOLA LEROY. 19 

Rapture ! Ossian illumes the innate from salute 

beyond adieu ; 
To her, an undisputed heir to his vast theme, 
This leaf of gain unfolds, unscrimped by a stinging 

doubt ; 
And sits there, this gorgeous violet flame, with its 

tints indellible ! 
No. perverse winds from others poisonous breaths 
Shall contaminate this holy fire, that burns yet ne'er 

consumes ! 
And ere this refine hath, with its chastened shim- 

merings pressed on worldlings, 
Opes to her pui suing claim the secret peer 
That unfolds in glorious beauty a tintless leaf, 
Milton's Paradise regained — smothered divine — 
Yet like coals smothered with their ashes, glowed it 
Upon the magnificently tinted ashes of her features ! 
" Laughing Water," dancing, trilling in with touch 

of smile, 
Imbeds — enriches richness of sublime. 



20 LEOLA LEROY. 

Seized upon Pollock's Course of Time, half she 

believed, 
Half did not— as a current oft a bowlder meets, 
Rushes 'round it, over it, finally under, looks, 
Upheaves it from a sanded crease 
And whirls it downward, itself the stronger power. 
Thus half uproots, thus half clearly carries on, 
So, a bold sublime awaits the "Night of Young." 
"Verily, after ye do satiate understanding with thy 

truths, 
' Divest' thou the finale into unknown bliss ! . 
We dive into the sunlight of thy being, 
And such draughts do draw, as for ponderance 

serve 
Ages beyond the time given for their infusion. 
We bow before the weight of thy corded fuel, 
And harbor it within to season, 
That flames from other torches concentrating, 
May, embracing, wield their arms aloft, 
And with their electric finger tips brush thy edge, 
And ignite thee — a clear inner star — 



LEOLA LEROY. 21 

A world to stand upon, with its rays 

Feeling in the yet Unknown for light, 

" More light, in that which is, and is to come ! 

Impenetrable vast ! ere thou hast kissed the morn- 
ing breeze of life, 

The cool advance from its lips hath cooled the 
warm advance of thine. 

Sweets ye see, but can not taste, till ye anchor 
with them there. 

There ! Where? Ye inspiration draws — close eyes 
— an infant are." 
Aurora Leigh steps in, from Madam Browning 
fresh, 

A Canterbury bell, its lips four compass points, 

Guides the mariner through fancies unto facts ; 

Golden w r alled arrests, piles on piles 

Hedge in, that when blind ye trod down, 

Need show of four lispers from such ponderous soul. 

"If on earth ye mind steer four ways direct, 



22 LEOLA LEROY. 

With what power will ye invested be through each 
uccessive ssphere?"* 

From Cowper, ever consolatory for afflicted ones ; 

Burns' magic warble wakes the dormant mirth. 

Benighted Tarn O'Shanter provokes illustrative art ; 

And from fancy's globule colors, on canvas form 

Tarn, witches, stumpy Peg, and deserted kirk ; 

While "lingering star" proclaims the sentiment re- 
verse, 

And upon Mary beams, who constant her Burns 
attracts. 

Scott, Goldsmith, Thompson, Gray, and Pope, 

Coleridge, and Wordsworth, these improve the 
taste : 

Akenside, Burke, and Keats swoop for a bound- 
less flight ; 

Campbell, Hood, Holmes, Tennyson, and Owen 
Meredith chime in ; 

*The Ssvedenborsrians claim her adherence to their creed. 



LEOLA LEROY. 23 

Sisters Sigourney, Hemans, Smith, complete the 

roll, 
And Prose, presenting, tells of Poetry in its soul. 

Friends send her Dick, Bacon, Gibbon, Locke; 
Mixed with the Sacred Scriptures, Voltaire, Hume, 

and Paine, 
Determined Macauley, deploring Thomas Browne ; 
Chillingworth, rolled in with Taylor's argument, 
Then sent her in hushed awe, with Volney, thro' 

deserted ruins, 
Though, with him, questioned not, " Is there a 

God?" 
Strange assemblage of modern lords ! 
But did all, nor any, the other confuse, 
Each the other clearer made, and thus combined 

her views. 
Deemed it they wise, she should quaff the age 

sh c*s in, 
Then, at an ancient fount, quench an eager thirst. 



24 LEOLA LEROY. 

All these, and more, in leafy bower her taught 

Unrestrained — contrast 'twixt thronged mansion- 
home and this ! 

Here, songstress' fair promiscuous dance o'er limb, 
o'er turf, 

There, song, and dance, to fashion's ceremony 
conform — 

Save now and then when guests were gone — Adelc 
alone, 

Her worshiped echo* resounding none but self. 

Leola, returning, music her only refection was, 

Her soul reflorescing she w r as nourished by the nec- 
tar of the blossom. 

And when night-fall rocked the senses into slumber 
deep, 

But two there — active — challenged rivals powers 

To, like produce that would thus thrill a moping 
world, 

Or an one bear with it, the same breath breathing, 
foot-print pressing. 



*Piano. 



LEOLA LEROY. 25 

When midnight softly spread her mantle o'er the 

spell, 
Noiselessly, they each to their separate chamber 

withdrew, 
Bowed reverently to the Unseen Presiding Power, 
And slept; their dreams, "entrance into Elysium." 
Adele — the idol of her father — an anomaly was. 
Her hand — as her character molded — (with bold 

points 
Like the fine strokes of the pencil or the brush) 
Swept o'er the polished keys in electric harmony 

with her ideals revolution. 
Young she was, and agile ; her ideality agile as her 

motion ; 
A curioso by birth, her combinations were of the 

rarest effects productive ; 
She ever soared into the immense, caught the tones 

of the storm gods, 
And did them to piano attune engulfed in the deaf- 
ening combat. 
Leola had from a line of kings descended : 



26 



LEOLA LEROY. 



And some did court her for her noble birth, 
Others, for her good deeds alone, 
Many for her influence popular, 
And some her knowledge great ; 
While not a few hung entranced 
Upon her marvelous celestial beauty — 
All, she did reprove with, "Virtue is nobility." 
She ever moved in an harmonizing atmosphere 
None once came but they came again : 
Aggrieved, found sympathy, a perpetual flow ; 
Ambition, assistance to its keen edged tools ; 
Merriment, springs that opened hidden doors ; 
Languor, unconsciously, woke to higher life ; 
Diseased, encouraged, gloried in ruddy health ; 
Degraded, instructed, examples shone for vice — 
Participants alike, of this disinterested good. 
Tall, erect, strength's only indication was by the 

brow betrayed 
That through the eyes typed the jeweled volumes. 
Her glossy golden waves, rolled back in a wealth 

of flowing curls, 



H, 



I 



LEOLA LEROY. 27 

While tiny ringlets at the forehead's edge did peep, 

And fan its pure white surface. 

Her face, a sheet of music was : a richest, rarest 

medley 
With each entheal note reflected in the soul's 

mirror. 
Her hand finely molded, from her slender wrist did 

taper 
To the as delicately molded nail's pruned point, 
Whilst upon the " milky ways'' outward 
Played the coral veins, bathed in sapphire light, — 
Waved in and out at pleasure by starry dimples. 
Inward, fuschias beheaded stamens glowed, 
/ shaped oft, and oft in angles met 
A perfect JV- — "in paradise we clippings are — 
Dripped into form from the pink palm's bowl, 
That overflowed with its liquid blue !" 
She looked queen musician for the gods : 
And ye heard their wind instruments and saw her 

presence the vibratory ; 



28 LEOLA LEROY. 

Or, saw an angel council appoint her to the soul's 
receptacle, 

And bid her each receive with welcome of the harp 
or lute, 

Though harp, nor lute, she ever touched, nor kev 
she pressed, 

Nor song she ever sang, yet her life was one con- 
tinual pean, 

It woke the finest instruments of Nature. 

And it were antinomy to tell when Leola most beau- 
teous was, — 

When distributing elevating grace ; 

When Adele's engrossing notes did her inspire ; 

Or, when she did personate an Ophelia or Juliet ! 

For they had home theatricals, concerts, balls ; 

Entertainments such as would imagination expand, 

Or stern reality in an uninvited box expose. 

This home in grandeur sat at Blue Ridge's base — 
Laurel Hall, it the title claimed from hour of birth, 
And date bore on its grizzly niched side 17 — 3. 



LEOLA LEROY. 29 

Began, tradition ran, by Adele's great, great grand- 
sire, 
When dusky faces outraged by such a daring plan, 
With battle-ax and scalping-knife bade quick re- 
treat, 
And sire, and masons with pick-ax and trowel 

farther east did flee, 
Until another spring ensuing, the white man rein- 
forced, 
Again they came to conquer the mighty chief, 

found, 
The red man had beaten their war-path farther west, 
And if hearing of the pale faces bold return 
Naught cared, if they did not upon their new-found 

rights infringe. 
In fact, 'tis said a straggling few did oft steal in, 
At night-fall examine the cemented rocks, 
And when perceived dash off in trembling fear, 
Till friendly signs would their savage forms recall, 
And of Norman's hospitality sharing, till morning 
linger ; 



3° LEOLA LEROY. 

When, busy action 'mongst flint and mortar a corner 

made 
They stared, pressed fingers in the moistened sand, 
Held ear against the new-made wall, looked up — 
Pointing to the firmament — " Great Spirit? 
Ugh ! tell white man to build him steps up to the 

cloud ? " [tened — 

Then shrugging prostrate to the earth, they lis- 
' i Great Spirit, tell white man, no Indian tell" — 
And believing their new brother possessed of super- 
natural power, 
Left with lightning speed to join their wandering 

tribe. 
Thus uninterrupted the work went on till grand-sire 

died, 
Then, eldest son thought the scheme to complete, 
And knew not his eldest son should such additions 

make 
As now gave view, the rare, the picturesque. 
The origin, three stories high, embellished with 

modern castellates 



LEOLA LEROY. 31 

Stood staunchly with its back to the glassy Shenan- 
doah, 

Confronting a grassy lawn that swept to a meadow 
south, 

Where a " bottomless spring" sent out a wriggling 
stream 

Northwest to the river's branch, that a fairy isle in- 
closed. 

Upon this isle a cottage, purest white, clothed in 
roses pink and white, 

Cut its proportions gothic through perfumed air 

Contrasting haughtily its height, embrace, with 
pailings protecting, 

Though entangled vines o'er emerald sward, nature 
did unite, 

And from art's enclosings, honey suckles dense, 

Shot sweetness high above, or darted below and 
bathed in crystal depths ; 

While striped boats with inviting oars at anchor lay, 

Temptingly swayed by the water's restlessness. 



32 LEOLA LEROY. 

Art with art did vie : northeast the mill and factory 

rose. 
Their sturdy stone defiance bade to fleeting wood ; 
Machinery's buzz, and nature's bustle making warp, 
Spoke, "Nature work nature, but ye do it with 

mother Art." 

A noble bridge connecting lands spanned the river, 

north, 

> 

Over which Afric's sons were wont to pass to cabin 
rows beyond, 

While blooded stock in appropriate stalls neighed 
loudly to the left, 

And training grounds for race-horse proud boldly 
gleamed at right. 

On mountain top the deceptious laurel bloomed and 
smiled, 

Inducing wandering innocents to browse and die — 

And as some exulted at strengthening dying bleat, 

Others blandly nodded to lawn's exotics below. 

Cactus, red capped with purple plumes ; poet's Nar- 
cissus ; 



LEOLA LEROY. 33 

Calla, its mission finished, sighing for summer's 

rest ; 
Japonica, scentless rose, sitting on thornless stem ; 
Petunia, concealing crocus stems and cooing to 

Alyssum ; 
Candytuft, mignionette, pinks, China and Japanese ; 
Violets meek, and ice-plant clothed in winter's 

shroud ; 
False syringa, rival of orange and lemon's prides ; 
Priceless jewels — besprinkled this wide-spread lawn 
Up to the fountain at the mansion's southern front, 
That years had sentinel stood of the chastity within, 
While Flora's whitest queen sipped its truant spray, 
Laughing at its neighbor lilies, that held their cups 

in vain. 
Near by, greenest geranium decked in scarlet stars 
An emblem was of richest thought branched out in 

choicest poems, 
While verbena clusters, of varied hue — but one 

species great — 
From purple deep to moonbeam's faintest ray 



34 LEOLA LEROY.. 

Too, indicative were of the spirit's power within, 
E'en to the colorless-garbed (though of perfect 

shape) 
So delicate their souls, their greatest fragrance had 

heaven. 
From the homestead's west, through a grove of forest 

trees 
Came a pebbled road, that wound round the lawn 

entire, 
Passed out at the east through an orchard crested 

Then followed the river's bank down to the fishing 

ground 
Nestled 'mid lofty locusts and a thicket of woodbine 

wild. 
With this bestowal, 'mid this luxurious ease, 
With wealth to purchase all imported rarity. 
What mvsterv then that youth and reverend age 
Should e'er be sought by earth's most honored kind ; 
And that among statesmen, authors, artists, and 

philosophers grave, 



LEOLA LEROY. 35 

Should be found world's aristocrats with titled con- 
stricted souls 
With those whose laugh caroled all music's parts — 
True fame's gifts, whose souls constricted title. 
These last, the confidence won of Leola and Adele, 
And debate, and song, and merry jest constituents 

were 
Of after converse, and contemplation, 
And when foreign writer recited his foreign verse, 
It to discussion led 'pon Genius Finale, 
Mankind's progression, and salvation universal. 



LEOLA. 

Geniuses, most cogent scintillations of thought su- 
preme, 
In perfect purity return to their great Creator 
And assistance lend in the peopling and formation 

of new planets, 
While planets that to us disappear, 
Are thrown by them into power intenser still — - 
Thus by one transition, seraphim are they. 



36 LEOLA LEROY. 

ADELE. 

Admit this true. What of those of common mold? 

LEOLA. 

As man his own free agent is, then 
Power has he to accept either good or evil. 
And insomuch as he doth of good imbibe 
Whilst upon the terrestrial warring, equally at 

death 
Endowed is he w^ith that much power progressive, 
And as then he in his appropriate sphere is placed, 
There remains, until the fullness of this power ex- 
hausted 
Recompense his labor gains in a higher sphere, — 
Thus progresses until God the Magnet clasps him. 

ADELE. 

And degraded that seem not to have any good im- 
bibed? 

So corrupt, that they all good reject, and seek but 
evil. 



LEOLA LEROY. 37 



LEOLA, 



To hell are sent, which remote from earth is but 
one sphere, 

And there remain, till with infamy disgusted 

An aspiration for purity arises — then granted their 
desire 

And the Incentive Magnetic, attracts unceasing. 

Thus perfected all may be ; the lowest menials ser- 
aphim become, 

So true it is that not an aspiration reverent but 
" shares in heaven's immortality ;" 

For our death is everlasting life. 

None but God and seraphim the empyrean occupy ; 

Through the intermediate heavens man discerns the 
prize beyond, 

And constant purity's influence feels in the abhor- 
rent region evil. 

ADELE. 

Millions of ages may such fiends as some require, 
Ere they be blessed with one pure motive. 



38 LEOLA LEROY. 



LEOLA. 



We trust the influx may be great, 
And soon the better triumph. 



ADELE 



Nature's inferior ones that scarce any intellect have ? 



LEOLA. 



Minds the least endowed inhabit the highest realm, 
Though slight their force, their work of service is. 



ADELE. 

Why was thought not upon one principle based, 
And that but good? 

LEOLA. 

That by giving two, minds might gigantic become, 
And thus in His kingdom a powerful agent be. 
Had God formed mind with but the element good, 
Perfect, it would have been, and been satisfied — 



LEOLA LEROY. 39 

There no strife being — always it would have been 
in bulk the same — 

Progression none, expansion none, nor wish to any- 
thing larger be, 

For pure as God were it, a mite, an infinite. 

ADELE. 

What of babes and youth snatched off? 

LEOLA. 

Bereavements in the rhyme of life 
Are stops to make us think. 

ADELE. 

Do departed souls direct, in any manner, the move- 
ments of souls of earth ? 

LEOLA. 

For effect Ws by some averred, though influence 
none save from the Omnipotent. 



40 LEOLA LEROY. 

ADELE. 

Of mortals dead and those alive which shares the 
greater number, 

Heaven's blest and earth's aspiring, or evil's victim- 
ized? 

LEOLA. 

As now from observation's census, purity o'er man's 

temporal predominates, 
Taught are we that heaven the surplus has — 
For purity so fast filled up, must soon exceed the 

evil. 

ADELE. 

Then on earth "shall hell e'er pass away 
And leave behind it universal day ?" 

LEOLA. 

As one by one in hell they aspire to higher life, 
And progression on earth the prevailing motive is, 
Extinct shall tophet be, and our earth be as an 
heaven ; 



LEOLA LEROY. 41 

Then all in motive pure- — extinct shall evil be, 
And if relieved of worthless clay, they spiritual 

form assume, 
Earth by fire destroyed may be, or sacred held by 

God 
The scene of man's struggles, triumphs, and records 

of such facts, 
Or in this Universal Day, He and they in harmony 

create their glorious worlds ! 
How glorious too to gaze upon all acquisition's relics ! 
Man's poetical surmises strange of this salvation 

universal ! 

ADELE. 

Then ceases here progressive power, 
Save that we do new worlds create — 
We greatest of the universe learn but of Thought 
Supreme ? 

LEOLA. 

No, pause not here, if on, beyond there's truths 
greater to attain, 



42 LEOLA LEROY. 

If from other spheres before unknown, we meet 

greater intelligence, 
Then, on, still on we labor up, to feast upon their 

gain- 
So far superior to ourselves we are as earth's least 

endowed — 
We from this believe, endless progression but our 

heaven is, 
When ceases it, we all-powerful are, the whole is 

God! 

ADELE. 

Perhaps of mind supreme man but an idea is, 

And but sustenance is of this Power Progressive ; 

That the greatest progress of his life to the Power 
Omnipotent but adds the greater strength, 

What bliss complete to divine that this a mite of 
worth can add to this creative power 

So gloriously great — inexpressibly, inconceiva- 
bly so ! 



LEOLA LEROY. 43 

LEOLA. 

And thus to "God glorify and enjoy him forever?" 
Few so magnanimous are, few so void of selfish- 
ness, 
They would not their individuality lose, 
But would know what part and parcel they were 
taking in this high creation. 

ADELE. 

To their Originator let petty ambition leave it, 
This were acquiescence sweet, perfect trust in an 

all-wise God. 
Reason's independent dignity assumes her sway 
As sleep's mesmeric spell distinctness stills, 
Save an wheel inflamed, that with vision will dis- 
turb, 
So, a crazed or stubborn fancy will prattle on its 
plea. 

Then to Leola she disclosed that which none but 
she and God had known — 



44 LEOLA LEROY. 

"That the Pencerdd Gwalia came and played a 
wild prelude to her fame, 

And from that hour her canopy betrayed her des- 
tiny — 

Around the world, beyond the sun praise gained 
intensity ! 

She planted firm her intent upon the fame that never 
dies, 

She w r ielded her wand and saw defined the power 
that made the skies. 

Thus equitable Leola this desire expressed : 

"That Adele should to piano her music bring, 

And that of her gleanings she should sing." 

She sat in song the faintest sounds — as millions of 
breath that trepidate — 

'Twas purity! quivering in all space, ere it at- 
tempted to concentrate. 

Soft and low — discontinuity whispered infantile, 

Slowly converging, this process showed power a 
perceptive smile. 



LEOLA LEROY. 45 

Earnest, slower — Reflection absorbed all Power ; 
Bolder, firmer, Reason arose from Perception's womb 

that hour — 
A thousand tones harmonious heralded in air 
Confirmed the expectant consort's vow, there's noth- 
ing in despair — 
Son of Reflection and Perception, He has power of 

both — 
Stronger, firmer still her notes did rise- and swell, 
He '11 wisdom have to rule the whole, and in all 

futurity dwell. 
In both He is, and both in Him, this Effect power 

doth 
Have to forever Himself with purity inflate, 
And thus nourished — forever, like propagate. 
Vollied down in tones authentic this reproductive 

power, 
Sound visions in dying haze, all; from suns to the 

simplest flow r er. 
This is God — the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, 
That in this manner created all our mighty host ; 



46 LEOLA LEROY. 

These faculties all compose the mighty fact 

A soul, sat in a body — that seem to some compact. 

From out the Sea of Purity, not a cause can we 

descry 
Save as, we draw it from the First Fact, Fact the 

Most High — 
We ideas are of this Great Fact, to live, to see, 

instill, 
And in the Parent Mind remain, when shell's cast 

off by His will — 
Thus greater power do we add to His imbibing 

powers, 
He produces from the Sea Most Pure higher souls 

than ours : 
Man imitates God's great works, in his machinery 

diverse — 
The same faculties run each principle extant in the 

Universe, — 
As advanced each principle in mechanism by 

each rising man, 



LEOLA LEROY. 47 

So advanced the faculties of souls of all by God's 

progressive plan ; 
And when obsolete the machine, 'tis the idea mind 

retains, 
When obsolete the clay of man, 'tis his soul in God 

remains. 
Then realization of that conceived increases pro- 

- ductive powers, 
Through us, the progression of Mind Supreme 

creates higher souls than ours ; 
Though ages may we blend in Mind Supreme ere 

He gives us power in matter, 
Yet higher shall the existence be, and we uncon- 

scious of the latter — 
Then for the immortal shape we 'sume — may our 

motto be but this, 
Where'er the sphere, whate'er the shape, work here 

for exalted bliss. 
Thus reproductive are we all ; reproductive God ; 
Our minds the sustenance of Him, He sustenance 

of all from man to clod. 



48 LEOLA LEROY. 

We mean by this, all is animate, possessor of ?ifact, 
The principle — it is a soul concealed with Almighty 

tact: 
It hath its language, silent may be to the most 

acute ; 
It hath its three essential faculties, from blade of 

grass to brute : 
The latter we hear converse — though we do not 

understand — 
We hear the plumed ones, and the waterfall — and 

pronounce it grand! 
All Nature styled inanimate, but animate it is, 
Each substance ideas of this Greatest Mind — of 

His; 
That very power that stones enlarge, and gems 

solidify, 
The spirit is, and dwells within these ideas of 

Most High ; 
Voices do these spirits have, they each with each 

commune, 



LEOLA LEROY, 49 

First formed — least strength — dumb they seem, so 

we do impugn — 
Thus when God formed the earth, the last He 

formed was man, 
From conception lowest, man ascended, by this 

reproductive plan. 
True, from void and darkness through light He 

power drew 
To, from pebble up to mankind, make the old con- 
ceive the new. 
Fruits, flowers, and vegetables we cultivate ; their 

progression is but ours. 
The knowledge of finest effect and cause expands 

our highest powers. 
Then souls of all, the sustenance is, of the Great 

Ideal ; 
Varieties in the soul of each, like souls that are the 

Real- 
Fruit to man's body corresponds — its flavor to his 

soul ; 



5° LEOLA LEROY. 

The flavor's properties to man's thoughts, varieties 
to the whole. 

In instances where the kingdoms three combine so 
we can not classify? 

Illustrative are of these faculties as first revolved in 
Mind Most High. 

Their ideas are as the infant's mind, they each 
vaguely comprehend 

Signify Primeval Mind — God, we can not repre- 
hend. 

Continuous change in the firmament and the king- 
doms three 

Is but the action of the Mind, the Great Supremacy, 

On snow-clad earth, in sun-kissed blast, who is it 
dares forbear 

To sound in clearest melody, "God is every- 
where?" 

As no two alike there are from mineral up to man, 
So, no two there are with aim the same in anything 
we scan ; 



LEOLA LEROY. 5 I 

Then each fact a principle is, to an idea begin, ad- 
vance, or finish, 

Free-agency alone determines if it shall diminish. 

What grand effect these ideas have to one upon the 
other ! 

Comparison slight, the good instilled by a virtuous 
mother ; 

And could we but arrange as He, this mighty poem 
of God's, 

Our poetry would soulless be as feeble voice of 
clod's. 

When searching in the dark that is, we higher 
lights do see, 

Do those accept — the laws of now then will an 
evil be. 

Thus darkness will forever change to light, God 
forever will progress, 

'T is labor that makes the heaven that is — progres- 
sion is redress. 



52 LEOLA LEROY. 

Then disobey ance of those laws that finest effects 
produce, 

Those tested by departed seers, can alone man's 
soul reduce ; 

And as more untested still there is, evil in darkness 
reigns, 

The ignorance of this light in dark will live long 
as light remains : 

Evil there has ever been, evil or darkness for- 
ever be, 

Light out of darkness came, darkness 's older than 
He. 

Since earth was formed, and souls were born, can 

philosophy deny 
That superior worlds with superior souls have been 

created by Most High ? 

As sweeps the whole vast concourse onward and 
around, 



LEOLA LEROY. ^^ 

Free-agenc\ T is God ; Progression is the sound. 
The Universe (motion's matter interminable) is one 
Brain, subject to His soul, The Mind of one. 

Note. — In each individual brain there are no two ideas alike. 
Each object is an idea of the whole, or a chain of combined 
ideas in which is variety — the objects themselves are varieties : 
varieties in varieties, which varieties comprise everything ; that 
is. nature, science, art. etc. : and without this endless variety, 
man could not be happy — this endless variety constitutes happi- 
ness, and is the extinguisher of monotony. 

The inherent force of the Universe is electricity, which is life — 
guided by Supreme Intelligence, which is to us Progression. 



54 LEOLA LEROY, 



PART II. * 

Sailing slowly up the Hudson, 'twixt Stony Point 

and West, 
Dreaming of the architecture with which the cliffs 

were drest ; 
Imagining how the goddess Nature received obtru- 
sion's stroke ; 
How her maids of honor listing man's admiration 

woke, — 
Turret, oriel, dome, and rampart, seeming to her 

approach 
Repulsive was their lifelessness — she smiled the 

smile reproach. 
Gazing from the forecastle down — down in the 

waters blue — 
Thus, as the ship of life glides onward, search 

deeply for the true, — 



LEOLA LEROY. 55 

The sunlight and the shadows did o'er the surface 

roll, 
Like the ever-changing emotions play upon the 

soul ; 
The shadows were consumed by sunlight, the 

mighty King of Day, 
As Fear trembles on the margin, till swept by Hope 

away. 
Winding round the headlands that each greet from 

each her shores, 
Lo ! in majestic grandeur sat the Seat of Cores : — 
Three promontories crowning, as they swept from 

her western bank, 
Their countenances thus imposing, past enthusi- 
asm sank. 
"In these temples of Minerva, do the arch gods 

give command? 
Is it truly seat of wisdom, this enchanting Fountain 

Land? 
Marvel of the marvels given, how they came here? 

Whose design? 



56 LEOLA LEROY. 

Was it truly art of mortal, or the adepts the Muses 
Nine? 

"But two years in Shenandoah — lovely Shenan- 
doah's vale — 
Had greened the graves of foster parents, e'er did 

Leola judgment scale, 
And in possession of her millions, here began her 

dream of eld ; 
Erected here the nation's glory, the Minerva's 

thou'st beheld. 
These, the grounds, and sixty millions bequeathed 

she to the United States, 
Inserting — marked — one stipulation, strict regarded 

her dictates, 
Which were — ' admit as students both the sexes 

from every quarter of the globe, 
Not momentous their religion, 'cept it wear the 

Papist's robe, 
Nor sustains that foul polygamy, curse the only, 

stains our land, 



LEOLA LEROY. 57 

Nor reject on 'count of color, whom shall constitute 
your band. 

The same restrictions for the faculty shall by man- 
agers be enforced — 

By the managers and examiners shall these same 
laws be indorsed. 

Not demand of one tuition, not by birth supplied 
with means, 

For students here shall be admitted not yet entered 
in their teens — 

Neither board, nor even clothing, of those that are 
poverty 'prest, 

They shall be nourished soul and body by the In- 
stitute, and by it be dressed. 

Of ambitious genius, talent, this the examiners 
shall decide ; 

They shall be gray-headed prophets, Geniuses of 
the sunniest side ; 

They shall likewise select the faculty, clergy, and 
domestics too — 



58 LEOLA LEROY. 

Shall conduct the entertainments, and see that each 

pupil has his due. 
And the proceeds of sixty millions shall support 

this Institute, 
Which loan, secured by estate real, will this man- 
date constitute — 
Except funds from independents, for dependents' 

tools expend, 
Also, beautify the buildings, furnish news, and 

lands extend. 
Should some future benefactor bequeath ye mites 

for this same cause, 
Accept them ye, 'pon this condition, they conform 

to above-named laws. 
Then the addition to past proceeds shall increase 

with legacy. 
Till all worthiest, helpless objects shall be fed by 

charity. 

The entrance of the academci, and withdrawal 
from this stage, 



LEOLA LEROY. 59 

Shall be governed by his calling, which shall des- 
ignate his age ; 

Then those who grasp at science of music ye shall 
admit at early five — 

Six years be they retained as scholars ere they 're 
cast abroad to thrive ; 

While youth who seek to be star poets can not en- 
ter under twelve, 

Eight years the brands of wisdom cherish, by 
which effulgence they may delve. 

Here the artist and the sculptor at nine years shall 
have a home, 

Pursue design six years or seven, ere they do sta- 
tion or do roam. 

Time for mental application, shall be enjoined five 
hours per day, 

Preceded by keen horticulture during morning's 
first hours' sway, 

Then the remnant of sun's guidings, shall with 
games them compensate, 



60 LEOLA LEROY. 

Drives, walks, and sails upon the Hudson, wit- 
nessed by an officiate. 

Three spans of horses, three barouches, forty boats 
at their command ; 

Each spring a dash off to the mountains or the 
lakes, to feast on grand — 

And fall, to World's Industrial Exposition, music's 
strife, or tints' display , 

Sculptor's fair, or test belles-lettres, at option left 
of powers that sway — 

Which powers subject are to him presiding, member 
chief of youths' decree, 

Whom, shall retain from youths' productions, speci- 
mens for the gallery. 

Services held within the chapel each Sabbath morn, 
I would commend, 

Propounded theorems by some Christian, and each 
student must attend. 

Should ye, U. S. officials, these laws accept not 
with one voice, 



LEOLA LEROY. 6l 

Then the proffered sixty millions I bequeath to 

Clair St. Joice, 
Which protege shall this inherit, use interest all 

without refrain, 
Till life extinct — not to descendant — but exercised 

for Britain's gain." 

Thus he spoke, and moored the vessel at the 

sculptor's wharf that lay 
Basking in the light resplendent of a harvest's bold 

midday. 
Flashed and sparkled twelve great fountains o'er 

golden banded lily urns, 
That, by imperceptive action, closed, expanded, 

each by turn, 
And all the round cut-glass aquariums, as entrance 

posts at gate of Zion, 
Bedazzled sight as doth that splendor first beheld 

by mighty scion. 
Conspicuous 'mid this dazzling brightness, gay- 

plumaged birds cast in and out, 



62 - LEOLA LEROY. 

And stately deer in back park center, lazily, leis- 
urely stalked about. 

Rabbits leapt and goats lay panting, children gam- 
boled in the shade, 

Or darted sunshine in the medley by their reflecting 
tresses made. 

Million suns from windows glancing, as from man- 
sions of the blest, 

Kissed the blooms that waved around them, and 
from them their fragrance pressed. 

Glaring as two Switz glaciers, square glass green- 
eries watched each bridge, 

And flashed the stars from lamps in circlets round 
those arts' connecting ridge, 

And gleamed and glimmered up the causeways till 
lamps in bold triangles stood — 

Passed around the center buildings, up to gallery, 
through the wood, 

Where, in three tremendous circlets, as worlds ap- 
pear in upper sky, 



LEOLA LEROY. 63 

Were blended in panes billion sheddings that no 
vision could descry ! 

O'er the birch and larchen forest clothed now in 
gold, then silver shade, 

O'er the twining green of hillocks which light in- 
crusted every blade, 

Swiftly swept our blinded vision down the glacis to 
the edge, 

Where, closed in pain was sight's inspection by the 
glistening Hudson's edge. 

Down from aft we straight descended — ascended — 
blent with golden sheen, 

Threaded through the school of sculpture, and an- 
cient cuts that intervene. 

Fauns, the Furies, Fates, the Dragon, Brahma, 
Siva, and Vishnu, 

Neptune — all the deities of mythology by winged 
Pegasus were chased through. 

Giant boas, eels, and lizards coiled and clambered 
'round the beams, 



64 LEOLA LEROY. 

Formed alone of solid marble like huge worms that 

crept from seams, 
And around monarchial columns clustered vines 

that hid the sting 
Of some direst, deadliest venom — lurks death oft 

in unseen thing ; 
And high above, in nook most cunning, hovered 

Cupid guarding Loves, 
While below, an artful monkey cooed and ate eggs 

of doves. 
Great Atlantes glowered in numbers, held aloft the 

mighty walls 
That were fraught with all devices, Spanish scenes, 

and grandest falls, 
Count's chateaus, and Switzer's cottage, Alpine 

peaks, and strange fresco ; 
Geyser's spouts, and maelstrom's rushing, and the 

ranche of Mexico, 
Interspersed with slabs platinum, extended from 

the ceiling same — 



LEOLA LEROY. 65 

Effect matchless in its brilliance, 'cept that diffused 

by Aladdin's flame — 
Overwhelming varied grandeur ; all dimension, 

cost, were sealed, 
Inadequate total 'cept to general, that in detail firm 

congealed. 
Winding through a mass of sculpture and the sound 

of mind's progress, 
Conscious but of form of area pictured in a wilder- 
ness. 
A square, six-storied structure, with a wing on 

each farthermost side. 
Each an entrance forming to the vast hall that did 

them divide, 
Which passage, wide, extended to the granite steps 

that blocked 
The space 'twixt eastern entrance and the Hudson, 

which by flint was docked. 
From this east front portal a winding stairway fled, 
Passed the portal of each studio to the dormitory's 

head, 



66 LEOLA LEROY. 

Where beyond all watch, all quiet, you might at 
midnight pierce the gloom, 

And with a stealthy sculptor see his imaginings in 
marble loom. 

Each studio had its outer portal — insight of Sir 
Wren — 

Into genius and its phases, arranged for sculptors 
when 

Inspiration w T inged its favored to the spacious prom- 
enade 

Where naught but purest inhalations could their 
inflated lungs invade — 

When cooled suffice to chisel they might each in 
his airy domicil, 

Fashion out his grand ideas by the powerful force 
of will. 

Two rows of granite columns from the northeast to 
southwest entrance ran, 

Erected for the prop of this fine wrought upper plan, 

These air shops were supported by the outer col- 
umns row, 



LEOLA LEROY. 67 

And iron railings circled to the walk passing each 

inner studio. 
At each semicircle's center sat a chest of tools, a 

score 
Which beckoned to roughs of marble sighing for 

egress from the door, 
At the meeting of these circles, the connoisseur 

might scan 
Through each open window the novitiate's noblest 

plan. 

Appreciation of Leola was shown in finish deli- 
cate — 

Whate'er the true fire's aspect, she ne'er did him 
underrate — 

At the entrance of the temple, stood in sculpture 
L. Leroy 

With open palm extended to a ragged sculptor boy, 

While with the left she held aloof a spotted New- 
foundland, 



68 LEOLA LEROY. 

If not for her interposition would have crushed him 
in the sand ; 

The heaven light of her features — transfusing — 
kissed the flush of ambition's touch ; 

True the sculptor's found his haven, and her smile's 
subdued old Clutch. 

Sweet the impress as if our satellite subdued con- 
tentions all of earth, 

Wrapped each broil in bliss's forgetfulness, fast as 
incensed brain gave birth. 

Reluctant left we this enchantment ensconsced in 

velvet cushions where 
From barouche Appollo's building, in state we took, 

with concord there 
That borne upon the incense cloudings at outset 

struck our inquiry, 
And proved to be orchestral soundings guarded by 

Calliope. 
Six-storied as the sculptor's temple was the home 

of science's soul, 



LEOLA LEROY. 69 

And the same perspective beauty as the sculptor's 

crowned the whole. 
A shell work — temple's turban — in muscles green, 

and gray, and white, 
Cuttings, as if washed upon a black slate beach by 

waves most erudite, 
Was intersected, and in four squares laid by a 

gravels imitate. 
That squared it round a star Research, which in 

majestic grandeur sate — 
And o'er it grasping ivy came, clumping, clamber- 
ing anywhere, 
Were it not for training human hand would it leave 

a dormer's casement bare, 
Though it scorned to embrace the rustic benches at 

the observatory's base, 
Wove parallel, back their wild-coiled leanings two 

bolts of pointed lace, 
Then perpendicular up each corner till it spied a 

gothic doorway's point, 



70 LEOLA LEROY. 

Resolved to meet a sister weaver and ply their bob- 
bins joint. 

Yards of webs in bewitching clusters they crumpled, 
spread, and puffed ; 

To us, so slight the flinten peeps, 'twere as a com- 
pact tuft — 

From this shot out a thousand different branches in 
a thousand different aims, 

Each daring man's interception, ere they chose 
other grotesque games — 

Which man did, with his bland persuasion, con- 
verge in sweeping arches high above 

To the front center of the Research, where it linked 
an emblem huge of Love. 

Within did minds of men in millions in shape of art 
concatenate, 

Accompaniments each for that in nature which 
holiest sentiments demonstrate ; 

And as each tell-tone poured in numbers forth in 
strain the soul of youth, 






LEOLA LEROY. 7 I 

Excelsiors framed or chiseled taught them, gain of 

former, future truth. 
And in pauses, winged warblers or shells of ocean 

rapturous sang 
Of the glory of their islands, or how oceanic cav- 

eras rang ; 
And chimes of bells in bliss conducted intuition 

upward to 
Celestial tunings, which it seizing, breathless silently 

withdrew — 
Which we, from astronomic observation and all the 

soul notes which belong 
Unto every branch of science, likewise left, amid 

the thro no- 
Of impressions stamped forever, for the artist's 

regal hall, 
Where in hushed sublime protection a pale Ma- 
donna shielded all. 
In whispered .^teps and whispered accents traversed 

we 'mid light and shade 



72 LEOLA LEROY. 

Attesting praises reverential for relics by old mas- 
ters made ; 

Found the temple as the sculptor's planned for stu- 
dents' every mood, 

For backward swept a " deepsome forest" formed 
alone for solitude. 

In silence to an immense and winged building, 
central of this bounteous gift, 

Glanced we in 'pon rooms of officials, and the culi- 
nary thrift, 

Peeped at chapel, and the castle miniature for 
spaniel's ease ; 

At the gardens, and the greeneries, and the golden- 
laden trees ; 

Then, through parks, grays, dark-dappled, pranc- 
ing bore us to the crest 

Of the central promontory? where the mammoth 
gallery did rest. 

Imposing outer excelled by inner — for finest art 
from every land 



LEOLA LEROY. 73 

Here was lavished, wisely fashioned by most prac- 
ticed, dextrous hand. 
Arches, casements, railings, ceilings, and columns 

glistened w r ith a frost, 
As if o'er Elfland vegetation indiscriminately it had 

crossed, 
And beneath illumination crystals vied with colors 

warm 
In the specimens (placed by graduates from these 

schools) of every form, 
And sheets of music, cuts of marble in frequent 

corbels lent effect 
To this magic white frost sprinkle o'er objects all 

that did project, 
The stages upper and the lower, window-panes and 

chandeliers, 
E'en the hooks for hanging paintings, and the fierce 

Crusaders' spears, 
With all finish 'pon the curtains, outer, drooping 

from the stage, 



74 LEOLA LEROY. 

For scintillations clashed 'mongst colors as if with 
life they did war wage. 

Chief amid the rolls of music was that composed by 

Fox's Gertrude — 
" Clouds " — saddest visitation which doth, the brain 
of man delude. 

CLOUDS. 

Mournfully, desolately, steals o'er my brain 
Insanity's current that thrills every vein — 
Clouds of embers-pent frenzy, ye slumber to wake 
When saneness departs, which doth now menac- 
ingly quake ! 
Thoughts turbid and fearful, rigidly held by the 

grim vice disease, 
God ! can no divine, no human effort appease? 
Bring my brush, paints, my easel, my canvas make 

it fast— 
A dark omen 'twixt me and vision ! quickly — 't is 
strangely past ! 



LEOLA LEROY. 75 

My pencil — I '11 sketch a true soul just leaving its 
case, 

This will immortalize — watch, Diamond, 'tis thee 
that I trace — 

What dims mine eyes? Why trembles this stroke? 

Is it the thunder of fate that so deafingly spoke? 

Did ye not hear it? Did ye not see that great blind- 
ing flake? 

Clasp my head tightly ! Ah ! thou dost convul- 
sively shake. 

Ye rolling, rushing cloud ! perturbing my Heaven- 
born light ! 

Why do ye not in it dissolve, and lose thy direful 
night ! 

God — clouds on clouds — and will ye never cease? 

Are thy visitations heralds of mind's decease — 

Clouds of inky blackness! have ye a "silver 
lining " — say ? 

Aye ! thy silver spear gashes senses from the se- 
pulchral gray — 



>]6 LEOLA LEROY. 

Ah ! this a beam of brightest colors ! Clear the 
piercing mind — 

Mine life ! 't is a sunset tinge — a dismal cloud be- 
hind — 

Eh ! from Florence to Rome — Raphael ! Good 

morn ? This is God's day — - 
No, I 'm on my couch — ye are all here — I have not 

been away — 
Ah, ha ! mountainous blackness — beacons ! Mother 

dear, Lulu, love, I know — 
(A forked flame shot pleasure in beautiful, beautiful 

as the " promised bow ") — 
Clouds fore'er dispelled — I '11 -paint that soul that 

moaned — 
My tints confuse (reason as sheet lightning sat 

enthroned). 
Now we '11 stroll. Hark ! I shudder. Why inter- 
rupted with this flout? 
'Tis clouds flitting o'er evening's lamp, that flashes 

light in and out ! 



LEOLA LEROY. 77 

(A cloud envelops the sacred light, like unto that 

which sired the flood, 
He vengeance vows on God and man, and seeks the 

angels' blood.) 
Ye cherished of God ! with placid brow and boasted 

immortal soul, 
Know ye I have power to slay ye and God, and am 

lord of your ancient goal ! 
The sword ye feel is Almighty Power that naught 

of his like shall e'er be seen, 
Ye souls shall melt in chaotic bliss, and be as ye 

ne'er had been ! 
I '11 slay the whole, usurp God's right, and be Myself 

Supreme. 
Now ! non-existent are ye all, God's image is a 

dream. 
And more ! I '11 God slay, too ! that not a curse can 

interpose — 
Melt ye, too ! in endless void, thou damnable Cre- 
ator of woes ! 



7 8 LEOLA LEROY. 

The Devil 's dead ! His fiends died, too ! by my al- 
mighty sword, — 

Beyond all force to this envied throne, mine oivn^ 
I Ve soared. 

In light I '11 rest, no cloud save chaos far beneath 
my feet, 

Omnipotent Power, naught shall I form to godly me 
defeat. 

Every planet, every system extinct as its God ! 

Reveille ! ! reveille ! ! I sound w r ith my rod ! 

The drum is old chaos, worthless as naught 

Save its hollow bass soundings that seems 'ith ap- 
plause fraught — 

Aye, glory ! it knoweth not anything — it yieldeth 
to fate — 

T will be my music forever — this / dictate. 

* ***** * 

Thus sat he with strained sockets and feverish 

brow, 

Month after month proclaiming his vow, 



LEOLA LEROY. 79 

Till wild rolled his imaginings in reality's bowl, 
He gasped, smiled triumphantly, remembered his 

soul — 
An instant unshackled, one gleam points relief 

'neath the -pall — 
Great God ! In this vortex I plunge, this 

deluge has swallowed this all !■ 
As with a wail from a soul, cast e'en from hell, 
With one bound, and a grasp upward, he fell — 
Despair grasped for reason, that from clay vesture 

had fled— 
Peace — snapped is earth life — life eternal ignited — 

he is dead. 

Eclipsed were busts and statues gleaming by La 
Free the eagle-eyed, 

Who chiseled the fantastic temple and its surround- 
ing diverse beside. 

He sized and flecked the marble ashlers, each 
joined together just alike ; 



80 LEOLA LEROY. 

Locked each precise imitation with an unseen mar- 
ble spike, — 

Athwart the cornice and the shell-work climbed the 
ivy Kendil worth, 

Which clung, even as the love of art, clung to this 
man of genius birth ; 

Formed the urn that held Lennaria its leaflets stroll- 
ing in a breeze, 

Its slender stems were as links connective of fastid- 
ious ideas ; 

And proud in this masterpiece of art of zealous 
John La Free 

Was the timely birth of a wide-spread oaken tree. 

He roughed a gnarled foundation — unless exhumed 
we know not its stop — 

And for its rude barked trunk, trimmed out a grace- 
ful top, 

Fitted it so neatly, every branch, and leaf, and 
twig, 

Twere graceful in its motion, as the pennons of a 
brig; 



LEOLA LEROY. 8l 

Light and shade continual blended 'twixt these 

anglers white as snow, 
As the sun-glimpses through its counterpart, effected 

like in his studio. 
He chiseled the whole exterior down to the river's 

edge, 
Nor was this watery current to the sculptor's mold 

a hedge — 
He rippled her broad, deep bosom with a steamer 

in her pride, 
And by others' keen invention the steamer puffed 

beside ; 
With the same emboldened touch, he cragged the 

opposite shore, 
And tourists with one accord 'xclaimed, " This ex- 
cels their art of yore ! " 
Him it was that placed Leola as a goddess o'er 

their fate — 
Him it was that wrote with pillow, and a dove, the 

foundress' fate. 



82 LEOLA LEROY. 

Here — most glorious realization — every nation had 

touched art ; 
Turks and Afric, Spanish, Indian, in this radiance 

had a part. 
Artists true from " every quarter" — rude Chinese, 

and ruder serf 
Had blended from "The Heights Celestial" down 

to Ragged, Deadened Turf. 
Here a flash from German Heyl, — there a trace 

from Deihl 
That did e'en most delineate an awful thunder peal 
That must innoxious follow the zigzag lightning 

streak 
Which his brush cut through a cloud, and but of 

God did speak ; — 
And Heyl convened the clouds made twain by the 

jaggy sweep 
Combining the scattered forces to swell the mighty 

deep : — 
But the most assiduous brother was Lucius Bell 

Glendane, 



LEOLA LEROY. 83 

Who oiled Morning in the Tropics, " Sunrise in 

Arabia's plain," 
Morning in the Tropics ! high above the arch it 

hung, 

As o'er the equatorial arch Phoebus' searching rays 

He flung ; 
Morning in the Tropics ! 'merging from its effulgent 

blue-white gleam, 
Flooded o'er with golden glory every kindred sun- 
set beam ; 
Morning in the Tropics ! dissolved the moon's mild 

gaze that spake, 
We are thoughts of Him, conversant, O rock-bow- 

ered, magic lake ! 
Morning in the Tropics ! gilded palm trees, wealth 

of dates, 
That reflected stars in the laurel wreaths of sedates ; 
Morning in the Tropics ! absorbed the pinkened 

frosts of the Northern pole 
As God absorbs a spark of each phlegmatic soul ; 
Morning in the Tropics ! relit Italia's twilights gray, 



84 LEOLA LEROY. 

As some receding impulse, advancing, shall reveal 
Universal Day ; 

Morning in the Tropics I 'stinguished star light 
guarding castle walls, 

Danced o'er her clinging ivy, and blazed in her 
darkest halls ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! consumed the realm of 
Hell, 

Proclaimed in inspiration, Evil doth but in Dark- 
ness dwell ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! 'clipsed an Alpine mid- 
day's sun, 

Making its powerful sheen darker, than its orbit, 
ere it was begun. 

Morning in the Tropics ! struck on Cotter's Satur- 
day Night, 

Enhanced the Grand'am's visage, put the wickend's 
glimmer to flight ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! swept o'er Maid of Athen's 
lofty brow, 



LEOLA LEROY. 85 

Revealed, " I am semi-part of Byron lordly thought 
of Thou." 

Morning in the Tropics ! played o'er pitchy mid- 
night that wrapped an island's grand debris, 

With glowing gladness tinged the solemn wreck 
made by ocean's breakers free ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! glistened on a German 
peasant's pack, 

Glanced from the bucket on his head, and kissed 
the scoop upon his back ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! warmed the tides of daz- 
zling Rheinish flow, 

Illumed the joyous "Wash," an annual rollicking 
show ; 

Morning in the Tropics ! shone on Morning in the 
Temperates in an autumn screen 

Imbibed all its mellow embracings as it seized 
Morning in the Temperate scene ! 

Morning in the Tropics ! in this stupendous Gal- 
lery of Art, 



86 LEOLA LEROY. 

In his unsurpassing splendor, claimed of these 

lights the highest part, — 
Morning in the Tropics ! sat in marble clearest 

white was to us assurety — 
So the Great Primary Thought Creative is centered 

in His Sea of Purity. 

O'er all,* Inspiration seemed hovering its spell 
As snow hovers o'er the woodland when fleecily it 
fell. 



The vjliole grounds and their freight. 



PART III. 

When a year of toil had upon the Seat of Cores ex- 
pended been, 
When the crickets sang, and the purple shades of 

eve ^ 

Were whitened by Heaven's million lamps, 
Whitened was the rovaltv of two souls — 
And later, as the queen of lights her effulgence 

shed, 
Undimmed by a single star o'er the piazza, 
White, sat those wafted souls above their mortal, 
And in silent music mirrored the notes of union. 
Adele, thy orbs and his pronounced the vows 
Thy God breathed through the innermost ! 
Fitting the record of ye and the Pencerdd Gwalia. 



88 LEOLA LEROY. 

Angels once again bore witness, on earth recorded 
'twas. 

***** 

In June, when all nature had its wings received for 

flight, 
The wings of voice flapped by those of its redoles- 

cence — 
Voices of Flora's gems, of Pan's treasures, 
Of Eolus pension, or Neptune calm 
As that of Urania, or Mercury, now their famed 

interpreter — 
When '*Eos"* incisions made in dewdrops, 
In gilded room ( — years since) amid the fluttering 

wings 
A soul its pinions plumed for flight eternal. 
Fond friends the whispered injunctions caught, 
And marked the ebbing tide that cast its accents. 
Firmer pressed Leola the hand of each — 
Drew nearer her dearest friends Pencerdd — Adele, 

* White steeded morning. 



LEOLA LEROY. 89 

And to them repeated this final confirmation, 
Clear, musical, in key mysterious spoken, 
Reminder of that which Pencerrd Gwalia crowned ; 
And again instruction is that beyond Reality lies. 
Hark ! an anthem now his applauded feast exceeds : 
"A power unchecked, inviting, pleads 
Resignation of mortal energies. 
This immortal teaching consigneth future force 
To action immediate : 

So shall matter's transmutation act, and to hu- 
manity 
Be unknown the acquisition of either working. 
G — o — d" the breath woke an harp Eolian. 



At the foot of a willow 

There lies a pillow, 
Inscribed upon its margin, Leola L. LeRoy ; 

The pillow at her head 

Marking her humble bed 
Is the honorary of a favorite sculptor boy. 



90 LEOLA LEROY. 

Willows waves of love 

Kiss a pure white dove 
That at the foot guards the perfect peace of her re- 
pose : — 

Poets invoke the muse 

Secure from every duse 
And lucidly immortality disclose ; 

Artists sketch the dell, 
Musicians praises swell 

Of their patron saint that guards their bowers ; 
The dell 's her resting place, 
Praises, time can not deface, 

They emanate from Him that clasps one of earth's 
purest flowers ! 

West Liberty, O,, November 30, 1871. 



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